‘On The Road’ review: Venice Horizons winner is taut, tender tale of gay Mexican drifter

Dir/scr: David Pablos. Mexico. 2025. 93 mins

The fifth feature from Mexican filmmaker David Pablos (Dance Of The 41, The Chosen Ones) is an erotically charged, noir-infused thriller where an unlikely same sex romance flourishes in the most unpromising of environments. Deftly blending trauma and tenderness, it builds into a tense, touching tale that should attract arthouse audiences drawn by the originality of the storytelling, the name of co-producer Diego Luna and a profile boosted by its Venice Horizons Best Film and Queer Lion awards.

Erotically charged, noir-infused thriller 

Veneno (Victor Prieto) is trouble from the moment we first see him. On his knees in the desert dust, he is drenched in petrol and seems about to be set alight. Whether this is a glimpse of what has passed or a suggestion of what is to come is initially uncertain. All we know is that Veneno is on the road, running for his life and servicing horny truck drivers who are not too particular about who relieves their sexual tension.

Pablos effectively conveys a macho world of beards and beers, baseball caps and gruff demeanours in which Veneno is an outsider. He also captures the sense of camaraderie among the (exclusively) male figures who drive the roads of northern Mexico, and the network of cantina owners, bar tenders, garage attendants and sex workers who support them.

Veneno is offered a lift to Saltillo by truck driver Muneco (Osvaldo Sanchez) who lets him know that he may be straight but has no issue with Veneno being gay. He only asks him to repeat the trucker’s prayer: “Give me Lord, firm hand and watchful gaze to reach my destiny safely without harming anyone.” The hope in those words diminishes as their journey unfolds.

Pablos and cinematographer Ximena Amann (Sujo) previously worked together on the television series The Head of Joaquín Murrieta (2023), another story of gay lives and hidden communities. Here, their collaboration steeps a doom-laden saga in a noir spirit. Significant elements of the story unfold at night amidst the cover of shadows, the darkness of the road and the neon-bright glow of sleazy clubs and seedy bars. Pools of light and vast highways sit somewhere between the paintings of Edward Hopper and the nightmares of David Lynch. Bright sunlight only reveals the harsh beauty of the desert landscapes and crimes from which there are no escape.

Over the course of the film, Pablos gradually reveals Veneno’s backstory and more of the lonely Muneco’s regrets about his marriage and the children he is rarely able to see. Events seemed to have made both men victims of masculinity’s most suffocating expectations. Their relationship is depicted as a constant dance of advance and retreat. Muneco will accept intimacy only to reassert his heterosexuality in the afterglow of their time together. Opening up about the past and revealing their vulnerability draw them closer. Committed performances from both actors and the chemistry between them encourages us to invest in a relationship that thrives in the face of adversity.

On The Road carries a sense of foreboding that is made explicit in violent acts and grisly retribution. The explicit sex scenes convey a range of meaning from the exercise of power to an expression of love. Survival comes with a hefty price, which makes the relationship between Veneno and Muneco all the more involving. The mere fact of them creating something precious together becomes a celebration of how love conquers all.